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{recipe} Spinach Feta Dip—Spicy Optional!

December 23, 2011

By now you know that I’m working with Kraft (and my sister!) on the Huddle to Fight Hunger, the Kraft Foods initiative to raise money for Feeding America to provide 25 million meals to hungry Americans. The experience has been even more rewarding than I expected. Not only have I helped raise funds (Kraft donated 1,000 meals for every one of my Huddle recipes), but I’ve also learned a lot about how folks with less access to information about food think about and buy groceries.

As part of the Huddle to Fight Hunger, the Hungry Sister has been teaching me all about tailgating, which has given me a glimpse into a food culture so different than my own. I’d like to think that I’ve given her a glimpse into my food culture, too, and that, together, we’ve refined an understanding of what’s important (healthy habits, tasty food, staying on budget) and how different families can keep those things in mind in different ways.

In the process, we’ve also come up with a way to satisfy candy bar cravings using only whole ingredients (a from-scratch dip inspired by Snickers) and compromised on ingredients for a roast that I never would have come up with on my own, but am sure glad that we made (Spicy Bacon-Wrapped Tenderloin). To close things out, we came up with a healthy and (somewhat) lighter feta dip—that can easily be turned into a spicy feta dip!—inspired by one of my sister’s favorite foods: spinach pie.

We’re Greek and as any Greek can tell you, buttery layers of phyllo are one of the many things that make spinach pie a near perfect food. Though it’s made with healthy ingredients, the truth is that spinach pie is, ultimately, pretty decadent. Continuing with our Huddle approach, we wanted to come up with a healthier take on spinach pie and, for tailgating, what could be better than a creamy dip for chips?

We didn’t blend the ingredients together the first time around—I thought that the chunks of cottage cheese would blend in with the chunks of feta—but found that the dip was much better when we did. Once we got that down, the rest was easy-peasy: add green onion, spinach, lemon and feta—just like when you’re making spinach pie. Dill makes a nice addition, too, but, just like when you’re making spinach pie, it’s an optional kind of thing. If you leave it out and want to go spicy, swirl (don’t blend) in a little bit of harissa. SO. GOOD!

This recipe is great for tailgating and also as a holiday dip. It’ll satisfy healthy eaters and also ones who don’t care as much. It’s something you can easily make whether you shop at Whole Foods or Walmart. It’s the perfect way for me and the Hungry Sis to end the Huddle to Fight Hunger series. And, may I suggest the perfect way for you to help end this series?

Taking the following steps helps raise money for Feeding America. That’s right: helping feed the hungry is as easy as a couple of (free and easy!) clicks so, please, as we enjoy the final weeks of the holiday seasons, help out.

2. Play the “2-Minute Trivia Drill” to donate more meals for every point you earn. Watch out—this game’s addictive! It also makes it really easy to get Kraft to put their money where their mouth is!!

3. Help spread the word by posting about the Huddle to Fight Hunger on your own Facebook page or tweet with the hashtag #KraftFightHunger. Remember: every “Like” is a meal and every single game has the potential to donate up to 9 or more (if you beat my high score!) meals.

1. Add sour cream and cottage cheese to the bowl of a food processor or to a high-powered blender and puree until smooth.

2. Add spinach, green onions and half of the feta to the sour cream mixture and pulse until spinach is well incorporated and no longer has a stringy texture.

3. Remove mixture from your food processor or blender and stir in remaining feta, lemon juice, salt, pepper and, if using, dill. To make a spicy version add a few small dollops of harissa around the top of the dip and gently swirl it in. Serve with pita, pita chips or potato chips.

*Note: Puree a small portion of the final dip into a totally smooth consistency for little ones who are not yet managing chunks. This, alone, does not make a great baby meal, but is wonderful combined with chick pea, quinoa, oat puree, or even mashed avocado!

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I may not know a lot anything about football, but I sure am learning about how football fans like to eat by working with my sister on the Huddle to Fight Hunger, the Kraft Foods initiative to raise a whole lot of money for Feeding America.
See, the Hungry Sister and I decided to team up when we learned that Kraft Foods would donate 1,000 meals to Feeding America for every recipe I posted in honor of the Huddle to Fight Hunger, an initiative to get all of us involved in helping them raise enough money to provide 25 million meals to hungry Americans.
I wanted to help Kraft do something good for the world and my sister wanted to share a little bit about the food culture of tailgating, which is a big deal where she went to college. And we all—she and I, and you, too—want to help feed hungry Americans, right?
Put it all together and throw in a dip inspired by Snickers and a Spicy Bacon Wrapped Tenderloin and you've got a goal.
I mean, a score.
Or, um, make that a... TOUCHDOWN!
(more after the jump)

This dish is inspired by one of my favorite Indian dishes, Chole Saag. Or, wait, Saag Chole. I believe the former is primarily chickpeas (chole) with some spinach (saag) mixed in, while the latter is a dish of primarily spinach with some chickpeas mixed in. My dish is definitely about the spinach, no question about it, because—move over, Popeye—I'm a mom on a mission.
I rarely plan meals around what I think my kids "need." Obsessing over the many ways we can meet our children's every need in real time is the worst part of popular parenting culture. I'd like to think that being thoughtful, loving and doing our best balance our children's needs with our own is a good (or good enough?) approach. When it comes to food, that means making healthy food that I like to eat while making sure that my kids have access to a wide variety of healthy foods three meals and two snacks a day. But, lately, I've tired of seeing every green vegetable other than broccoli go to waste. And does broccoli even count as green when it's lacquered in crimson ketchup? Yuck.
(more after the jump)

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Stacie Billis is a food editor, recipe developer, and cookbook author with a Master’s degree in child development who is absolutely as geeky and hungry as that makes her sound. Stacie is always ready to eat delicious food and loves sharing her healthy eats with her family—most of the time.